If your employer has signed up to the JobKeeper scheme, you should have started receiving payments now. The payments were released to employers on 6 May 2020. While the JobKeeper subsidy to employers is $1500 per fortnight, this is before tax is withheld. There has been some confusion regarding the taxed amount as some employees are only receiving the JobKeeper payment, while others are continuing to earn their normal salary (JobKeeper + top up).

The ATO state that the payment you receive from your employer is generally treated the same as salary or wages for tax purposes, so your employer must withhold income tax and any other amounts that are ordinarily withheld from your wage or salary. Examples of amounts withheld from salary are HECS-HELP repayments and salary sacrifice arrangements. Where an employee is paid more than $1,500 per fortnight, the employer’s superannuation obligations will not change. Where an employee is having their wages topped up to $1,500 per fortnight by the JobKeeper payment, it will be up to the employer if they want to pay superannuation on any additional wages paid by the JobKeeper payment.

Generally, those who are only receiving the JobKeeper payment should have tax withheld at the marginal tax rate for that payment per fortnight. All other employees will be taxed at their normal marginal tax rate.

You can check your job slip from previous months to find out what is ordinarily withheld from your wage or salary.

For further information visit JobKeeper FAQs

For employers wanting to claim the JobKeeper subsidy, enrolment for April and May closes on 31 May 2020

Contact us if you have any further questions.